Executive Summary

Sunshine Early Learning's digital marketing performance in February 2026 demonstrated continued growth across key acquisition metrics. Total ad spend increased by 12.3% month-on-month to $4,280.50, distributed across Google Ads ($2,450.00) and Meta Ads ($1,830.50). This investment generated 42 total leads, representing an 8.5% uplift from January's 38 leads.

The centre's cost per lead improved by 3.4% to $101.92, indicating stronger ad efficiency despite higher spend. Tour show rates held steady at 78.6%, with the 2.1 percentage point improvement reflecting better-qualified lead generation. Most notably, enrolments reached 12 for the month — a 20% increase — bringing the cost per enrolment down to $356.71 (an 8.2% reduction).

Overall, February represents a strong month for Sunshine Early Learning. The improved conversion funnel efficiency suggests that recent creative refreshes and audience refinements are delivering meaningful results. However, the click-to-lead rate decline warrants close monitoring in March.

Paid Advertising Performance

Google Ads accounted for 57.2% of total spend ($2,450.00), generating 24 leads at a cost per lead of $102.08. The campaign achieved a click-through rate of 3.8% with an average cost per click of $3.12. Search campaigns targeting core service keywords continue to be the top performers, driving 68% of Google-sourced conversions.

Meta Ads contributed the remaining $1,830.50 (42.8% of spend), generating 18 leads at a cost per lead of $101.69. Carousel ad formats featuring parent testimonials outperformed static image ads by 34% in lead conversion rate. The retargeting audience segment showed particularly strong engagement, with a 5.2% click-through rate compared to 2.1% for prospecting campaigns.

Website Analysis

The centre's website received 2,847 total sessions during February, a 15% increase from January. Landing page bounce rate improved to 42.3% (from 48.1%), suggesting more relevant traffic from paid campaigns. The average session duration increased to 2 minutes 34 seconds, with the virtual tour page emerging as the highest-engagement asset.

Mobile traffic constituted 73% of all visits, reinforcing the importance of mobile-optimised landing pages. Form completion rates on mobile improved to 6.8% following the simplified enquiry form implementation in late January.

Tour & Enrolment Insights

Of the 42 leads generated, 33 booked a centre tour (78.6% booking rate). Of those who booked, 26 attended their scheduled tour, representing an attendance rate of 78.8%. The conversion from tour attendance to enrolment was strong at 46.2% (12 enrolments from 26 tours attended).

The most common tour-to-enrolment timeline was 3-5 days, indicating that families are making decisions relatively quickly. The top reason cited for enrolment was the centre's outdoor learning programme, followed by proximity to home and staff-to-child ratios.

Trend Analysis

Over the past six months, Sunshine Early Learning has demonstrated a consistent upward trajectory in lead volume, growing from 28 leads in September 2025 to 42 in February 2026. Cost per lead has stabilised in the $95-$105 range after a spike to $118 in October 2025, when seasonal demand patterns temporarily reduced ad efficiency.

The enrolment conversion rate has improved from 32% to 46% over the same period, driven by improved tour booking follow-up processes and higher-quality lead targeting. This trend is expected to continue as audience data matures and lookalike modelling improves.

Anomaly Alerts

Two anomalies were flagged for February. First, the cost per lead increased 25.3% from the 6-month average of $81.32 to $101.92. While still within acceptable range for the Melbourne market, this warrants monitoring. Second, the click-to-lead rate decreased 31.2% from the historical average of 4.8% to 3.3%. This may indicate landing page fatigue or a shift in audience quality from recent targeting changes.

Optimisation Recommendations

1. Refresh ad creative: Rotate in new testimonial-based creative assets to combat ad fatigue, particularly on Meta Ads where frequency has increased to 3.4 over the past month.

2. Landing page A/B test: Test a new landing page variant with a shorter form (name + phone only) to address the declining click-to-lead rate. Hypothesis: reducing form friction will recover conversion rates without sacrificing lead quality.

3. Expand Google Ads keywords: Add long-tail keywords around industry-specific terms to capture high-intent, cost-effective traffic.

Next Month Action Plan

Week 1: Launch new creative assets across Meta Ads. Implement landing page A/B test.

Week 2: Expand Google Ads keyword set. Review and optimise audience segments based on February enrolment data.

Week 3: Mid-month performance check. Adjust budgets based on early March data. Send tour booking reminder sequences to unconverted leads.

Week 4: Compile March preliminary data. Prepare creative briefs for April seasonal messaging (school holiday programmes). Schedule strategy review meeting.